THE West Dorset community was in deep shock after the sudden death of much-loved vet Neal Shaw last Wednesday.

Mr Shaw, 53, sold his Bridport practice Haydon Veterinary group at Gore Cross in Bridport in March this year following a career caring for animals that spanned 30 years.

He had been making plans to go to Australia.

Haydon receptionist Chrissie Knell worked with Mr Shaw for ten years and said he would be much missed.

She said: “We were all very fond of him. He was always good if you had troubles of your own. The clients loved him.”

Mr Shaw worked with Helen Minter and Roger Scammell before the Haydon veterinary partnership at Gore Cross dissolved two years ago.

Mr Scammell said: “It was a tragic death and I feel very sorry for the family.”

When he sold his business Mr Shaw said he was sad to be leaving the practice which had been his livelihood for almost 20 years but said it was time for him to move on.

He made plans to return to Australia where he had worked when he was younger.

He was much-loved by his clients in West Dorset as much for his veterinary skills as his warm and flamboyant personality.

He loved his Triumph Rocket 3 motorbike but in later years barely found the time to ride it.

Mr Shaw was born in Somerset, the son of a vet who delivered him before the midwife arrived.

His mother was a miner’s daughter from County Durham and was teaching in Windermere when she met Mr Shaw’s father.

His father started the Coombefield practice in Axminster and the family moved to the town in 1959.

From an early age Mr Shaw loved wildlife.

He went to Axminster Primary School and Colyton Grammar School.

He worked weekends at a knackers yard at the age of 14 – an experience he referred to as being like ‘Dante’s Inferno’.

Mr Shaw earned enough to visit his godfather, another vet, in South Africa and aged 15 he helped on the Natal game reserves.

He qualified as a vet in 1979, then worked in Herefordshire before going to Saudi Arabia to work on a new dairy farm of 10,000 milking cows.

He spent three years in New Guinea where he was responsible for the Highlands region where he relished the challenge of working in a different culture where wealth was measured in pigs and the piglets were often breastfed.

After New Guinea he joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps doing his officer training at Sandhurst. He worked briefly for the Royal Horse Artillery in London. He had wanted to go into active service in Northern Ireland or become a cavalry officer but was only offered military experimental work at Porton Down, which he hated. He stayed only six months.

Next came Australia and a job in Darwin trying to eradicate TB in cattle. He was deeply upset about having to shoot feral buffalo from a helicopter and moved on again.

He moved back to the UK in 1990 when his mother became unwell and worked at first for George Dickinson in West Allington.

He bought his home in Broadwindsor with 22 acres and never tired of the news across three counties. He had been trying to sell his home.

An inquest was opened and adjourned last Friday into the death of Mr Shaw at Dorset County Hospital.

Mr Shaw leaves behind an ex-wife and two young children William and Darcy.

His funeral will be at the St John the Baptist Church, Broadwindsor at noon on August 7.